Scammer helped speeding motorists avoid fines by framing innocent drivers – including their own family members

The ringleader of a speeding fine scam that helped motorists avoid fines by framing innocent drivers, including their own family members, has been jailed.

Khuram Yaqoob, 35, received thousands of pounds after giving false names and addresses to drivers who were trying to escape prosecution for speeding offences between June 2017 and December 2019.

Some of the names given were fictitious, whilst the addresses were related to properties he owned.

Once false details had been returned, the registered keeper – the person trying to dodge a speeding fine – would be cleared.

Resources would then be wasted trying to trace a person who did not exist, and the prosecution would fall apart.

Some people even nominated “wholly innocent” family members in order to escape punishment, Bradford Crown Court heard.

An additional 18 drivers were sentenced after either admitting or being convicted of perverting the course of justice.

Judge Jonathon Rose said “deterrent and punitive sentences” were necessary for individuals who undermined the administration of justice.

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Judge Rose described Yaqoob as “the central figure and ringleader” in the conspiracy. He was jailed for three years and four months.

A secondary school teacher, who narrowly avoided a jail sentence, was among those caught after doing 95mph on a motorway in December 2017.

Akib Mahmood, 30, said he took part in Yaqoob’s scheme when he was “naive and stupid”.

Mahmood was sentenced to six months in jail, which was suspended for two years. However, he must comply with an electronically-monitored night-time curfew for the next six months and take part in 100 hours of unpaid community work.

The scheme was brought to light when Yaqoob was arrested in relation to firearms offences in 2019.

Upon going through his phone, details of the cons were found via WhatsApp exchanges.

Rose said: “It was only through painstaking and time-consuming work by the police that the defendants before the court today were brought to justice.”